In offering farmers control over the price of their produce, a Telegram group, FarmerBot, is connecting more than 22,000 agro-producers to direct buyers.

In 2017, Kenyan farmers lost 1.9m tonnes of food as they struggled to find markets according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

FarmerBot came up with the Telegram group to help farmers seamlessly interact with buyers. Onions, tomatoes, capsicums, watermelons, cabbages, chillies are some of the main crops of the farmers in the group.

“There are more than 2,000 buyers in Nairobi, Mombasa and other major towns buying from FarmerBot group members. Apart from linking them to the buyers, the group lets the farmers independently determine the price of their produce,” said Noah Nasiali, FarmerBot group Business Development Director.

The officer said the group members create profiles of their farmers featuring the crops they are having from planting to harvesting.

The managers of the group know which crops will be ready for harvesting at a given time and the expected tonnage.

In addition to hotels and restaurants, supermarkets are the other main buyers of the produce from farmers in the FarmerBot group.

Besides being in control of the price, the farmers enjoy all-year round market for their produce.

“Instead of producing tomatoes from one acre in one season, the farmers are helped to delay the planting using the quarter system. They can grow the first tomatoes on a quarter an acre now and do the same to another quarter after three weeks or a month until the acre is covered. The spread ensures differences in age, which will be replicated at harvesting,” he said.

Instead of having one-bulky produce per season, the farmer transcends the period to reach the market even on shortage times.

With a constant supply, the farmers create good profile for themselves with the marketers. The farmers also earn constant income from the harvest besides wining the confidence of the big buyers like supermarkets.

The Telegram group, which is supported by http://farm.ink/, offers farmers free expert production and buyer information for high yields and definite markets.

Kenyan farmers are set to benefit big market for their produce in China following an agricultural export deal between the two countries which will allow the farmers export avocado, French beans, flowers, vegetables and peanuts to China.

The deal comes in the backdrop of the first ever China International Import Expo (CIIE) being held in Shanghai. According to the latest United Nations estimates, the current population of China is over 1.4bn making the East Asian country a good market for the produce.

China has become Kenya’s biggest trading partner, accounting for 17 percent of Kenya’s annual trade by value or more than $4 billion.

The deal is expected to tilt the balance of trade scale in favor of Kenya to boost income from its exports by tapping China as a key export market.

Horticulture and flower exports are a key foreign exchange earner for Kenya which raked in $1.13B in 2017.

Europe has been a key market for Kenya which is now looking to diversify.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook estimates, Kenya exported US$5.7 billion worth of products around the globe in 2017, 28.4 per cent were sold to European importers and another 23.7 per cent worth of goods to Europe with 8.9 per cent arriving in North America.

The agreement comes less than a week after China’s president Xi Jinping met with President Kenyatta.

One small-scale farmer in Kiambu County is tapping tens of thousands of shillings flowing the rising demand for strawberry flavoured foods than the actual fruits.

George Kinuthia says strawberry is a preferred flavour that most producers such as yoghurt and chewing gum producers are riding on to make more sales.

“I started by propagating strawberry seedlings for customers in 2016, but with time, I noticed the gap in the market as supermarkets, hotels and individuals started showing appetite for these fruits’ flavour as compared to the fruits themselves,” said Kinuthia.

Supermarkets are selling the product packaged fresh while high-end hotels serve it in salads.

“Individuals and supermarkets were asking for these fruits. I only had seedlings to supply to growers. I had no reason to reject cash from direct market. That is how I delved into double trading,” he said.

Besides the demand for the fresh fruits, Kinuthia says, other farmers are jumping into jam and juice churning.